Magnetic discs with magnetizable media are used for data storage in most computer systems. According to the domain theory, a magnetic material is composed of a number of submicroscopic regions called domains. Each domain contains parallel atomic moments and is magnetized to saturation, but the directions of magnetization of different domains are not necessarily parallel. In the absence of an applied magnetic field, adjacent domains may be oriented randomly in any number of several directions, called the directions of easy magnetization, which depend on the geometry of the crystal. The resultant effect of all these various directions of magnetization may be zero, as is the case with an unmagnetized specimen. When a magnetic field is applied, the domains most nearly parallel to the direction of the applied field grow in size at the expense of the others. This is called boundary displacement of the domains or domain growth. A further increase in magnetic field causes more domains to rotate and align parallel to the applied field. When the material reaches the point of saturation magnetization, no further domain growth would take place on increasing the strength of the magnetic field.
The ease of magnetization or demagnetization of a magnetic material depends on the crystal structure, grain orientation, the state of strain, and the direction and strength of the magnetic field. The magnetization is most easily obtained along an easy axis of magnetization and most difficult along the hard axis of magnetization. A magnetic material is said to possess a magnetic anisotropy when easy and hard axes exist. On the other hand, a magnetic material is said to be isotropic when there are no easy or hard axes.
Many prior art magnetic recording media were fabricated with a longitudinal configuration. That is, the recording media were fabricated with in-plane (longitudinal) anisotropy in the magnetic layer. Longitudinal anisotropy results in magnetization forming in a direction in a plane parallel to the surface of the magnetic layer.
The demand for higher capacity magnetic recording media, however, has resulted in interest in perpendicular recording media; that is, recording media with a perpendicular anisotropy in the magnetic layer resulting in magnetization forming in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the magnetic layer. Typically, perpendicular recording media are fabricated with a polycrystalline CoCr alloy or CoPt-oxide alloy film. Co-rich areas in the polycrystalline film are ferromagnetic while Cr or oxide rich areas in the film are non-magnetic. Magnetic interaction between adjacent ferromagnetic domains are attenuated by the non-magnetic areas in between.